Remembrance
by Olga LaLa
Summary: Michael's daughter does something that he never had the guts to do himself...
1. His Angels

Remembrance  
  
The rain dropped furiously on the casket being carried by the four poll bears, Max Events, Kyle Valenti, Jim Valenti and Michel Guerin. Friends and family came from all around to say their farewells to the precious angel in the beautifully carved wooden box.  
  
--Later that week--  
  
The sun was shining, the birds were singing as Michael stood in front of her tombstone. His angelic wife was gone forever. Tears ran down his newly shaved face as he remembered his wife right after the birth of their daughter.  
  
---  
  
"Hey you," Michael entered his wife's hospital room. He was disturbed with the news the doctor presented him with.  
  
"Hey your self." She smiled at him.  
  
"How do you feel?" He asked and set beside her on the bed.  
  
"A little weak, I guess, but that's expected, right?" He nodded. "So, how is she?"  
  
"Sleeping like a baby." Michael smirked.  
  
"Silly, she is a baby." She slapped him playfully.  
  
"Yes," he approved. "Our baby."  
  
"Michael, I have a request for you." She said and he nodded. "Let's call her Maria." Michael was about to protest but didn't when she placed her palm to his cheek and scratched it lightly with her nails. She always did that. "It would mean so much to me if you'd agree to it."  
  
"Alright," he kissed her sour forehead. "Maria it is."  
  
"Maria Guerin," she smiled dreamily. "That's how it was supposed to be."  
  
"What?" Michael asked confused and paled.  
  
"Michael, you know that I love you right?" She asked slowly.  
  
"Yes," his eyes burned. Michael knew where she was going with this topic.  
  
"You will survive with out me."  
  
"What…"  
  
"I over heard the doctor," she paused. "I know I have an internal bleeding and that they can't stop it."  
  
"You'll be fine, baby." Michael laid his head on her chest and listened to her fainted heart bit. "I love you so much."  
  
"Not as much as you love Maria." She corrected. "That is how it had to be." She whispered, closing her eyes.  
  
"No, baby, please!" Michael's eyes filled with tears. He knew what would happen next. "Don't go! Don't leave me!"  
  
"Maria Gue…"  
  
'peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep' Flat line.  
  
---  
  
He looked down and smiled gently at the sleeping baby in his arms. Now she was his angel. She would never know who her mom was: how beautiful and caring and giving and so perfect.  
  
Michael looked at the curved marble placed over of what would be her head and read out loud,  
  
"Isabel Evens Guerin  
  
A loving daughter, wife and mother  
  
'You will be missed and remembered, our sweet Angel'  
  
June 20th 1982 – May 13th 2006"  
  
Michael looked down at the little angel in his arms and smiled when the baby yawned lazily. "That's your mother, baby girl." He nodded to Isabel's grave. "I'm so sorry you won't get to know her like I have." Michael kissed his daughter's forehead lightly and then tensed when he heard some leaves and twigs crack.  
  
"Michael," his best friend and brother in-law, Max Evens, spoke gently. "Everyone was worried after you left with Maria out of the hospital."  
  
"I'm sorry I worried everyone," Michael faced Max. "It's just I really needed to be here and to…"  
  
"I know," Max cut him off. "You don't have to explain, I understand."  
  
"Thanks, Maxwell." He smiled.  
  
Max bent down and kissed the head of his newborn niece who was slowly waking up. "Hey there, Ria." To his surprise, Maria sneezed pretty loud. "I guess she likes that pet name." Max straightened up.  
  
"I guess," Michael agreed. "It's getting pretty chilly here."  
  
"Yes, let's get her some place warm, okay?" Michael nodded. "The car is right outside, mom is waiting inside." They walked to the gates of the cemetery and Michael turned back and mouthed, 'I love you' before getting into the black Mercedes and driving off with his in-laws and daughter to a newer future. 


	2. The Letter

hapter Two  
  
Eight Years Later…  
  
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!" Maria yelled the moment her eyes opened in the morning. Her voice was heard through the empty house. She jumped off her bed and ran down stairs to the living room. There they were, her yearly presents. They were all laid neatly on the coffee table. These presents were sent to her by daddy uncle Max and aunt Lizzy and grand-pa and grand- ma. She didn't really care what they sent her. Probably some new toys or some dresses: nothing new, well maybe in color or size but that's all.  
  
Maria pushed all the presents to the side or the floor until she found what she was looking for. It was an aged looking envelope with a big number eight on it. It was her mother's eighth letter. This letter just as the previous seven were written by her mother before she died. Maria kissed the letter and then ran up the stares and back to her room. She locked the door jumped on her bed, opened the letter and began to read it.  
  
Dear Maria, how are you? "I am fine, thank you." Maria answered her mother's written question and continued reading.  
  
Today is your eighth birthday. You are a big girl now and probably look like your father. "No! I look like you!" Maria whined at the letter.  
  
So tell me, sweetheart, does your father still put his suit on backwards when he is late to work? Maria nodded, giggling and continued. I thought so.  
  
Oh, baby girl, I miss you so much! "I miss you too, Mommy." Maria whispered.  
  
This will be my last letter that I will write to you. Maria's eyes watered. You are a big girl today Maria, and I believe that you will know what to do after finishing reading this letter. In this letter I will tell you a story. Well, this story is about a me, daddy and Maria… "Maria?" The little girl echoed and continued reading.  
  
TBC… 


	3. The Story~Part I

Chapter Three  
  
--The Story--  
  
University's Gymnasium  
  
A slender blonde girl is stretching.  
  
University's Yard  
  
A masculine, hair spiked boy is running and knocking into everyone.  
  
University's Gymnasium  
  
A girl is looking at her watch.  
  
University's Yard  
  
A boy is looking at his watch.  
  
University's Gymnasium  
  
The doors are forced open and the girl looks at who did it. "You're late again!" She says annoyed.  
  
"Yea, well you know I was tired from last night's part." He answered nonchalantly.  
  
"Tired?" She challenged. "Or are you afraid?  
  
"Hey!" He pointed at her face with his finger. "Michael Guerin is not afraid of anyone!"  
  
"Michael Guerin is not afraid of anyone!" She mimicked him like a child. "Maybe that's true in other cases but everyone knows that Michael Guerin is afraid to be bitten by Maria DeLuca in basketball."  
  
Michael grabbed the basketball that Maria had the entire time and pretended to throw it back in her face. "We will see."  
  
Maria swung her arm, pretending to hit him with it but ran it through her short blonde hair.  
  
"Oh shit," Michael mumbled as he felt for that trick too many times.  
  
"We will see," she wiggled her eyebrows.  
  
The game started and Maria had the ball. She dribbled it fast and skillful. Her first ball went through the hoop, no problem.  
  
Michael got the ball. He dribbled more slowly and teased her how it was just a coincidence that she got the first one in. Maria was in rage. Michael was playing with the ball: circling it on his middle finger, dribbling it between his leg.  
  
"Hey look!" Maria pointed at something behind Michael. When Michael turned, Maria ran up and quickly stole the ball.  
  
"Oh no!" Michael whined and watched as Maria tossed the ball through the hoop.  
  
"YES!" Maria jumped up and down. "YAHOOOOOO!" She cheered.  
  
Michael was about to dribble but yet again Maria got the hold of the ball. He was defiantly tiered of her constant success so Michael did the first thing that came to his mind; just when Maria jumped up to throw the ball, Michael body slammed her. Maria fell on the floor in disbelief and watched Michael's next move.  
  
Michael grabbed the ball and dribbled it to the hoop. He jumped up, got the ball in the hoop and swung back and forth on it.  
  
"HEY!" Maria screeched and stood up. "When will you stop cheating?"  
  
"Hey, don't call me a cheater, Maria." He warned.  
  
"That's what you are!" She confirmed. "A cheater."  
  
"Maria, stop calling me that." He warned again.  
  
"Michael is a cheater, he is a cheater." She made fun of him. "Cheater. CHEATER!"  
  
"Oh yeah?" Michael twisted her hand behind her back.  
  
"WAAAAAAH!" She yelled in his ear.  
  
"Hey, man," he covered one of his ears with a free hand. "Would you stop yelling like a girl?"  
  
"Hey," she quieted down. "I am a girl."  
  
"HA!" He let her go. "You are not a normal girl!"  
  
"Well excuse me," she turned to him. "For not being one of those stupid girls that you run after and who chant your name each time you pass by." Maria fluttered her eyes and acted as one of those ditsy girls in their university. "Michael is so cute…he is so handsome…just look at his full lips…."  
  
"Excusemwa," he corrected. "I don't run after girls, they run after me!"  
  
"Don't flatter your self." She rolled her eyes.  
  
"And yes, you are right!" He grinned. "You're not like them…you never put make up on…never make your hair…never wax that mustache you have."  
  
"What was that?" She yelled.  
  
"That was a joke." He explained his last remark.  
  
"Well, I don't like jokes!" She said, getting on her toes so they'd be face to face.  
  
"Well, I don't like you-hoo-hoo!" He answered back. Their noses touching. Suddenly they turned away and went their separate directions. A second later they walked back to each other, just like before, noses touching. They yelled in unison. "SHUT UP!!!" And went in separate directions.  
  
TBC… 


End file.
